The one thing I told my sister I wanted to do if we go to Japan was see the life-size Mewtwo. My whole family knows how much I loved Pokémon growing up and Mew-Two has always been my favourite. Fortunately, I was able to see it plus visit another Pokémon center on my trip. We would’ve seen another in Osaka if we had time but I’m more than happy with checking out these two locations, Shibuya and Tokyo DX! In this blog post, I will share my thoughts and some tips as well as give you an inside look! Before you read below please make sure to follow on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook as I’ll be posting more Japan travel content! See the video below for a pov walkthrough inside both locations!
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Klook.comShibuya
Location
This Pokémon Center is located on the 6th floor of shopping mall, Shibuya Parco, at 15-1 Udagawacho, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0042. The mall is really cool as the bottom floor is where I tried some good food and grabbed the limited-edition “Dark & Wild” BTS vinyl from Union Record. The mall is only a 7-9 minute walk from Shibuya Sky.
Interesting Things Inside
As mentioned before, the life-size Mewtwo was something I had to see and this was only able to be seen at the Shibuya Pokemon center. They even had some great graffiti art of Mew and Mewtwo, along with other cool displays, such as the interactive Pokémon sound library!
Merchandise
I will talk a bit more about merchandise in the next location but frankly, nothing really caught my eye especially since the pricing was decent to high. There was something unique which was the customization but since we were only in Japan for a week we couldn’t stay in Shibuya Parco for long so we couldn’t wait for the customization which does take time. I believe they recommend giving yourself 3 hours to get your customization done and there is a long line to even purchase anything here.
Tokyo DX
Location
This is a much bigger Pokemon center and is in another part of Tokyo. It is located at 103-0027 Tokyo, Chuo City, Nihonbashi, 2 Chome−11−2 髙島屋S.C.東館5F. This is a 24 minute walk or 12 minute right to the largest Uniqlo in the world in Ginza.
Interesting Things Inside
This is a fairly big Pokemon Center so there are a few things to check out in addition to shopping. Starting off, you will be greeted by this enormous Snorlax statue where it is being be accompanied by Pikachu, Mew, and other Pokémon statues. You can also play some fun capsule games, see some awesome displays, and depending on the hours some card battles I think (I am not sure what it was but I think it was that).
Cafe
Unfortunately, the cafe was fully booked and there was no cancellation. We were on a very tight schedule and we tried booking in advance but since the trip itself was last minute we knew there was a high chance we couldn’t go. Nonetheless, I wanted to mention that you can always ask to see if there were any cancellations. I found the staff at Tokyo DX really nice and professional which is great, since we had a similar situation with the Harry Potter cafe in Akasaka but the staff ignored us.
Merchandise
It’s important to note that not all Pokémon centers carry the same products. There will be some similar ones but there was a different selection of things in both. I found that Tokyo DX had way more options than Shibuya but at the same time, there were certain things I didn’t see there so tip: if you see something you like, get it! However, it doesn’t hurt to ask the staff if you don’t see something I found that with Tokyo DX especially, the staff were really nice and tried to help out the best they can! And just to be clear, most of these items are not what you can usually get at Walmart. As you can zoom into the photos about the pricing, it was decent There were certain things I saw that I felt were unique or I have seen at other stores in Canada but it is marked up because it is imported.
My sister and I ended up buying some socks, snacks for our cousins’ kids, and some treats for ourselves including a special Mew tin with wafer sticks (came up to ¥1296 which is almost $13 CAD). I think the only thing that I noticed that was marked up (not by a lot) was these Pokemon candies, and I only noticed that because I got them at Don Quijote! This location also had a lot of selection for the 25th anniversary, and even a special gift bag. We opted for the regular one because we liked that a bit more and knew it would help when packing.
Tip: there is a tax-free option so make sure you have your passport with you when you go so the staff can get that done for you. The staff asked and were really nice in making sure everything was settled properly.
Overall
All in all, I really enjoyed my time checking out these Pokémon centers and will love to go back and explore more! I am grateful to have experienced this and thankful for the amazing customer service! I hope this blog post was helpful a bit and/or enjoyable to read. Please give a follow on Tiktok, Instagram, and Facebook as I will be posting more content like this, especially from Japan!
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